Originally aired on Wednesday, 04/11/2007
Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: The final challenge to determine the Top Design allows the final two designers, Matt and Carisa, the chance to let their true style show.
Episode Highlights:
- The designers get their final challenge instructions, and they will finally have enough time, budget, and creative freedom to really “wow” the judges.
- Despite their differences in the past, Carisa and her carpenter Carl manage to pull together for the final challenge.
- Although they have more resources, there are still significant logistical challenges for the designers to overcome.
Your Take
T Filicia said:
Both lofts were poorly designed and decorated, and honey, I should know. Neither Matt nor Carisa deserved t...
Recap:
The producers have a challenge with these last two contestants on Top Design. In order to build good drama throughout the season, they had to take advantage of all of the footage of Carisa Perez-Fuentes having lots of conflict with her co-workers.
However, now that she is in the final two, we, the audience, are supposed to believe she has the level of professional gravitas necessary to compete with the strong contender Matt Lorenz. Maybe she does, but they’ve spent the whole season making her negative side prominent, so for me, going into this last challenge, it doesn’t even seem like a contest. I know she’ll make a great design – in fact, I’ll probably like her design better as I enjoy her fun pop aesthetic more than Matt’s subdued and chic one – but I don’t think for a second the judges will actually let her win. Let’s see if I’m wrong.
Matt and Carisa meet with Todd Oldham to receive the instructions for their final challenge. They will be designing a 1700 square foot loft, and will have, at last, a proper budget and timeline. They have over $150,000 for materials and furnishings, and they will have two months to design at home before returning for a five-day install. Matt is thrilled that he finally has a budget that suits his caviar taste.
And best of all, they each have the perfect client: themselves! The direction for the loft is for them to make a design to suit their own lifestyle. Matt feels he is slightly more challenged by this; he is married and has a four-year old, so he has more elements to incorporate.
After seeing the space and taking measurements, the two are dispatched back to their usual lives for two months, where they think and plan. Upon returning to Los Angeles, they meet with Todd to review their plans. They then set about shopping at the Pacific Design Center, while their floors are installed and entire loft painted.
At the PDC, Carisa goes tag-happy, laying claim to numerous pieces of furniture, lamps, and doodads. Matt is more restrained, wanting to focus on luxury and quality. However, even with his restraint, he is over budget just like Carisa, and they both have to make some cuts.
Back at the lofts, the carpenters arrive. Despite their butting heads during the earlier Top Design challenges, Carl and Carisa are happy to see one another and start to work. Ed, Matt’s carpenter who was injured during one of the competitions, is back and ready to take his role as carpenter. The two carpenters learn that they, too, will be competing for a prize: $10,000, so they both are even more motivated.
And motivation is needed as this is a rough project. Heavy or large items must all be carried up to the loft, three floors in Matt’s case, or an agonizing six floors in Carisa’s. Her laborers are apprehensive about bringing up sheet after sheet of heavy drywall. The appliances appear to also have to be brought up via stairs, or at least Matt’s were. I can’t imagine why it would be different, but I hope by some miracle, the movers didn’t have to transport a fridge six flights of stairs to Carisa’s loft…that would just be inhumane!
The construction is rushed and both Matt and Carisa experience some trouble with their floors, as all the activity compromises the finish. However, they manage to pull it all together and get their lofts completed in time for judging.
After the judges, with guest judge Trudie Styler, make their rounds, it’s time for all to go back to the White Room for the final assessment.
Carisa is given kudos for her innovative and fun bed pit. She is also praised for keeping the loft feel. The judges think, though, that it looks apparent that she ran out of time, and that there wasn’t a lot of life. They also do not love her expensive floor and think the money could have been spent elsewhere.
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Matt gets his usual praise for his chic and luxurious rooms. Also, the princess room he designed for his daughter is found to be adorable and clever. They also like the drama and glamour of his bathroom. However, they wonder why the bedroom doesn’t have the same sexiness. They also are concerned that he is a skilled decorator, but not a designer and didn’t use the space as well.
But no matter: he has the Top Design! As he puts it in interview: “Was there any question, really, people? Seriously.” Indeed.
- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Images courtesy BravoTV)